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Macs can now inform Apple if any liquids have been detected in the USB-C ports

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Re: Macs can now inform Apple if any liquids have been detected in the USB-C ports

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post #154
post #137

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We didn't let them go, they were taken from us by force

That is a questionable statement, as there were phones with removable batteries and phones without them on the market for quite some time and the phones with removable batteries were simply not successful enough.

If they were identical in all aspects, including cost, your comment might make sense.

I suspect there was more than one variable involved and so the entire idea that there is any correlation is flawed.

Re: Macs can now inform Apple if any liquids have been detected in the USB-C ports

#252
post #49

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They'll save money on warranty repairs in that case - by blaming your mom for a water spill - so it'll all work out for them. It's not even a new trick, some scammy repair companies here in Europe loved to claim water damage to avoid warranty repairs.

They don't want to service the laptop even if you don't have warranty. I have a Mac from 2016, probably had a minor water event, water spilled on table and slightly touched the chasis. I don't remember anything significant. The battery lasts 20 minutes in 2021, I go and ask them to replace it and they refuse because of "water damage" and warn that the machine can fry at any moment. The laptop is still running fine da…

Apple is the same as any car dealership nowadays. They give techs a very limited time, if any, to diagnose an issue. The solution is always to replace parts. Most of Apple’s solutions are replacing the logic board instead of fixing anything on it.

Once the computer is old enough I’d seek out an indie if possible, same for my cars if I can’t fix the issue or don’t have time.

Re: Macs can now inform Apple if any liquids have been detected in the USB-C ports

#253
post #211

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Kinda surprising they need an entire process for this... Smells of bad engineering - do they also have a batteryislowd? or a someonepressedtheMkeyonthekeyboardd?

They do indeed have a lot (dozens) of small, single purpose daemon processes in modern macOS. Many of them access the network, too.

Over the years those processes have also frequently–at least for me–been the answer to “where did all my battery life go and why is my laptop so hot?”, as they’d rarely but inexplicably go haywire and peg the cpu at 100% until being killed manually.

Re: Macs can now inform Apple if any liquids have been detected in the USB-C ports

#254
post #247

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The iPhone 12/13 Mini was substantially smaller, but few people bought it, so they cancelled it. The vast majority seem to want large screens. Currently the only compromise are flip phones. I considered buying the Z Flip 5, but the screen protector needs to be replaced by Samsung to maintain warranty and there is no Samsung Store nearby. I asked and Samsung said I'd have to send it to them, losing my phone for a coup…

> The iPhone 12/13 Mini was substantially smaller, but few people bought it I knew before scrolling down that such a comment would be there. an iphone costs easily 5x-7x more than an android phone. Most people just want a phone that can do messages, calls, and has a gps. There haven't been any non-overpriced smaller smartphones lately.

For me personally, the cost isn't a factor. I'd gladly buy a small Android phone for up to $2000 if it would satisfy all my needs. Yes, I'm this desperate.

And by the way, high-quality Android phones cost comparable to iPhones. Keep in mind that Apple is simply not interested in the budget segment.

Re: Macs can now inform Apple if any liquids have been detected in the USB-C ports

#255

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Same thing with the Samsung S5 from 2014. IP67 waterproof with headphone jack and removable battery.

And don't forget the IR blaster, so you could control most of TVs. And IIRC it was the first Samsung phone with fingerprint reader. I miss that phone.

I disabled the fingerprint reader since they've decided it was a good idea to put it on the power button, so locking the screen also reads my fingerprint and unlocks the screen immediately.

Re: Macs can now inform Apple if any liquids have been detected in the USB-C ports

#256

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And Sony Xperias still come with headphone jacks today[1] after they tried Apple'ing for a couple models and got laughed at. [1]: https://www.sony.com/electronics/support/mobile-phones-table...

Real question / No trolling: I feel like I am the last living human who still uses the headphone jack. When I walk around my city, I see almost zero other people using it. They using wireless earbuds. I avoid wireless earbuds to avoid yet-another-battery-to-be-charged. Is this true for other HNers also?

I also prefer wired ones.

At work they gave me some wireless ones… they cost about 200€. They occasionally lose connection despite the receiver being ~1m away and the sound jumps.

Re: Macs can now inform Apple if any liquids have been detected in the USB-C ports

#257

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Apple recently quoted me 2,300$ to fix just one broken keyboard key (it was M, if you were wondering), because according to them the water sensors were tripped and it's policy to replace the mtherboard if that happens. Which apparently costs more than buying another two working identical MacBook Pros. The laptop has never gotten wet, and everything apart from the M key was working perfectly.

Do you live in a hot, humid climate? I think a lot of those water alarm stickers show false positives if people move from a cold, air conditioned place to the humid outdoors. Condensation is unavoidable unless you wrap the laptop in fairly airtight bag every time you go out.

I am certain that many people have been denied warranty claims because they live in cold climates and visit indoor swimming pools regularly (coaches/lifeguards/spectators etc). The condensation in that situation is impressive.

Re: Macs can now inform Apple if any liquids have been detected in the USB-C ports

#258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Real question / No trolling: I feel like I am the last living human who still uses the headphone jack. When I walk around my city, I see almost zero other people using it. They using wireless earbuds. I avoid wireless earbuds to avoid yet-another-battery-to-be-charged. Is this true for other HNers also?

I don't think I have zoomed with another SWE that had a headphone cable in a decade.

That's because they use whatever crap the company gives them.

Do you think i chose my keyboard? No, our IT budget is too low to buy me the 50€ keyboard I'd actually want. For some reason we can afford 200€ wireless headphones that have jittery sound however.

Re: Macs can now inform Apple if any liquids have been detected in the USB-C ports

#259

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Nope you can connect four: https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT213503

There are _still_ some "new" macbooks sold which only support 1 external monitor. Which honestly would have been ridiculous 10 years ago not even speaking about now. Then even with a newest M3 model apples somehow assumes that external monitors with less resolution then 6k don't exist hence anything but MAX models only supports 2 external monitors even if they are all 1080p. Through to be fair 3+ external monitor set…

The limitation on the number of external monitors is due to the number of display controllers on the chip. Apparently they take up a considerable amount of space on the die. The base M chips only have 2. They made a technical trade off that we are all paying for. It is unlikely they will ever fix it. :(

Daisy chaining monitors via thunderbolt has always had problems since it came out. Some monitors just don’t play nice with each other.

Re: Macs can now inform Apple if any liquids have been detected in the USB-C ports

#260

This is a feature of newer usb-c pd chipsets. See, e.g., https://www.ti.com/product/TPS25751 in the features section. Apple has historically used TI chipsets for their USB power controllers. The feature likely comes from this.

FWIW, liquid (pin-shortage) detection on the USB-port is a standard feature of all Smartphones with IPxx water-ingress certification. It prevents the device from applying/draining power from any pin in such a state, mainly to reduce corrosion of the contacts and increase longevity. (Without such a mechanism, an IPxx device may be unable to charge within a few weeks as the contacts of the connector can deteriorate qui…

On iOS you can thankfully override it (the alert dialog lets you do it) in case of an emergency - which is pretty handy if you’ve had the phone in the pool/shower and really need to charge it and don’t have a blow dryer to hand.

Less frequent of an issue for laptops I would hope :D

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